Vehicle front end construction



Sept. 19, 1944. E. G. ZEEB mamas VEHICLE FRONT END CONSTRUCTION N 4 ZINVENTOVR .2 liver MW/www- ATTORNEY-6.

Patented Sept. 19, 1944 VEHICLE FRONT. END CONSTRUCTION Elmer G. Zeeb,Grossefl'ointe Woods, Mich., as-

signor toChr-yslenCorporat-ion, Highland Park, Mich a corporation ofDelaware Application August. 5,- 1941, Serial No. 405,526

1 Claims. (oi. 293-55) The present invention relates to vehicle frontend construction and particularly to an improved construction foradmitting and directing cooling air to the vehicle radiator.

During recent years the trend inautomobile front enddesign has beentoward improved appearance with-considerable sacrifice "in air intakefacilities. From the appearance standpoint, it

is becoming increasingly desirable to present a solid looking front endwith no or at best slight suggestion of radiator or cooling openings.

In the improved front end construction described herein, pleasing.appearance without sacriflce of cooling .efliciency is obtained. Aportion of the air for cooling the radiator is' admitted throughcit-beneath the bumper and a-scoop is provided for directing the airthusadmitted to the I radiator core.

Two embodiments of the invention are shown herein for illustrativepurposes Intthe accompanying drawings,

Fig. 1 is a partial cut-away perspective view of the front end of avehicle embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar .view of construction. Figs. 3 and 4 are sectionalviews taken respeca slightly modified tively as indicated by the lines33 and 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a similar sectional view taken as indicated by the line 5-5 ofFig. 2.

.Referringfor the moment to Figs. 1, 3 and 4,

it may be seen that. the vehicle front end illus-' trated thereincomprises front fenders l and II joined by a plurality of decorativegrille ele-v ments l which are attached at their ends to the respectivefenders andwhich extend across the front of the vehicle in verticallyspaced relation.

A hood panel l2 of the alligator type is hinged at'its rear portion forswinging in a vertical.

. which air can pass. The openings I8 extend only between the fendersHi, It, the space between the grille elements being closed by the fenderpanels ateach end. The elements I! are preferably presence beingunnecessary to an understanding with, suitablestiffening beads 22. has ahorizontally flanged portion 23 at each end chromium plated and are soshaped and arranged that the radiator core I 4 cannot be seen from thefront of the vehicle.

Each of the fenders is provided with an inner wall I! which fits tightlyagainst the side of the radiator l3. The lowermost grille element iswelded to a horizontally disposed, laterally extending panel IS. Thelatter extends forwardly in cantilever fashion into close proximity tothe impact bar 20 of the front bum-per as best shown in Figs. 3 and 4.The impact bar 20 is of. substantially U-shape in cross section and itstop leg is curved rearwardly such that it covers the space between thebar and panel IS. The space between the barand panel is sufflcient topermit the.

impact bar to move slightly rearwardly in response to bumps withoutdamaging the panel.

Secured .to the bottom of the radiator and extending forwardly therefromis a panel 2| formed The panel 2| which is disposed with respect to thebumper structure in such manner that it receives air admitted throughopenings 24 provided in the impact bar 20, one such opening being1ocated.out-.

wardly beyond an upright guard member 25 of solid.

The flanged portion 23 of the panel 2| directs the air inwardly towardthe center of the vehicle as will be readily understood.

'The panel 2| is slightly down-turned at its forward edge 25 .so thatair passing'unde'rneath the central portion of. the bumper will bescooped upwardly and so that water, gravel, etc. which may enter thescoop will run out, the entire panel being pitched slightly downwardlytoward its front marginal edge; I

At each end above the portion 23, the panel 2! has anupturned flange 21,the rearward portion' of which is provided with an outwardly directedflange 28. The regular bumper support arms are adapted to lie in thespaces between the flanges 23 and 28 and these extend rearwardly to thefor-- ward ends of the chassis side sills to which they hers have beenomitted from the drawings, their of the invention.

The panel I9 overlies the panel 2| and is secured to the flange 28 andthe top marginal edge of the flange 21. Thus it may be seen that-the IIand from the openings 24 and directs it into the core l4 of the radiatorIS. The hood panel I! when closed closely engages the top ofthe radiatorII. It is thus apparent that the-panel 2|, the fender walls l1 and thehood I! all cooperate to form a closed chamber through which the coolingair admitted through the grille openings ll and through the openingbetween the panels II and II is directed into the openings of theradiator core 14.

This construction provides an extremely emcient cooling structure whichprovides an adequate supply of air to be delivered to the radiator andyet permits wide latitude for the designer, allowing him to achieve afront end of modern and pleasing appearance. By extending the noseportion of the hood panel lidownwardly at the front and providing only afew grille openings disposed at a relatively low position, .modemstreamline appearance is obtained at some sacriflee in cooling emciency.With the present invention, the desired aesthetic result may be obtainedwithout impairment of cooling efliciency, the air scoop providing plentyof air to supplement that entering through the-openings l 6. The scoopstructure itself is invisible from the front and sides of the vehicleexcept for the openings 24 which add a decorative note to the bumper.

Figs. 2 and illustrate a modified form of the invention. In thismodification, a central decorative nose member 30 is positioned at thefront end of the vehicle and the grille elements 3| are relativelyshort, extending only from the nose member 30 to the fenders 32, I3,instead of across the entire front. The elements 3| are of stampedconstruction and are provided with decorative caps 34 which may beplated with bright metal.

The hood panel 35 includes a decorative nose piece It and is of thealligator type seating on the uppermost grille bar asshown in Fig. 5,this figure being taken along a section line disposed slightly to theleft of the center piece 30.

The bumper structure comprises a pair of impact bars 31, 38 connected byuprights 39 and 40, the former serving also as a guard member. Thisconstruction provides an opening 4! extending between the uprights 40which is considerably larger than the combined area of the openings 24in Fig. 1. This larger opening delivers more air through the bumper andcompensates for the inlet area lost by the provision of the center piece30. The bumper is closed at each and beyond the members 40, the lowerimpact bar 38 being joined with the upper impact bar 31.

The air scoop is formed by a pair of vertically spaced panels 42 and 43as in the Fig. 1 form. the panel 42 being carried by the lower grilleand fender structure and the panel 43 being secured at its rear endbetween the chassis (not shown) and the radiator structure 44.

The air entering the interior of the front end structure through thegrille and scoop is directed into the core 45 of the radiator b apassage formed by the hood panel 35, the panel 43 and the inner fenderwalls 46, a small side panel 41 being secured at each side of the panel43 to confine the entering air to a definite path.

While some of the air entering through the scoop is taken in below thebumper, most of it enters through the opening 4|, the lower impact bar38 being suitably shaped in cross section to directthe air inwardly andupwardly toward the core assassc The modification of Fig. 2 illustratesone of the many variations possible. it being obvious that many otherchanges in the proportions and arrangements of the parts may be made bythose skilled in the art to provide a front end construction of pleasingand stylish appearance without impairing cooling efliciency.

I claim:

1. In a motor vehicle having a cooling radiator, a front endconstruction including a grille structure provided with openings for theentrance of cooling air for said radiator an air scoop disposed belowsaid grille structure and comprising a stamping secured at the bottom ofsaid radiator and extending forwardly of said grille structure invertically spaced relation relatively thereto, a second stamping securedto the bottom of said grille structure and extending forwardly thereofin parallelism with said first stamping and side wall portions unitingsaid stampings.

2. In a motor vehicle having a cooling radiator, a front endconstruction including a grille structure provided with openings for theentrance of cooling air for said radiator; an air scoop disposed belowsaid grille structure and comprising a stamping secured at the bottom ofsaid radiator and extending forwardly of said grille structure invertically spaced relation relatively thereto, a second stamping securedto the bottom of said grille structure and extending forwardly thereofin parallelism with said first stamping and side wall portions unitingsaid stampings; and a bumper secured to said vehicle in front of saidscoop having openings therein for admitting air to said scoop.

3. In a vehicle having an engine and a cooling radiator, a grillestructure: an air scoop mounted at the front of said vehicle beneathsaid grille for delivering cooling air to said radiator, said scoophaving a forwardly presenting intake opening and a tunnel portionincluding a continuous bottom wall extending rearwardly to the radiatorand a top wall terminating rearwardly at said grille.

4. In a vehicle having an engine and a cooling radiator, a grillestructure; an air scoop mounted at the front of said vehicle beneathsaid grille for delivering cooling air to said radiator, said scoophaving a forwardly presenting intake opening and a tunnel portionincluding a bottom wall extending rearwardly to the radiator and a topwall terminating rearwardly at said grille; and a bumper mounted infront of said scoop for protecting and concealing the same, said bumperbeing provided with air admitting openings and arranged in spacedrelation with respect to said scoop such that air can enter .said scoopfrom beneath said bumper as well as through said openings.

5. In a vehicle front end construction, right and left fenders; aplurality of horizontally disposed bars extending between and secured tosaid fenders in vertically spaced relation to provide a decorativegrille having air admitting openings therein; an air scoop mountedbeneath said grille for admitting additional air to the interior of saidfront end and a bumper mounted in front of said scoop to conceal thescoop from view.

6. In a vehicle front end construction, a cooling radiator; a pluralityof horizontally disposed bars extending across and in registeringrelationship with the front face of said radiator in vertically spacedrelation thereby to provide a decorative grille having air admittingopenings therein; an air scoop including top and bottom walls mountedbeneath said grille for admitting additional air to the-interiornrsaidai'ront end and to said radiator, and a bumper mounted in rront oisaid scoop having an impact bar of substantially U-shaped cross section,the top wall of said scoop extending forwardly beneath the upper leg orthe U and the bottom wall of said scoop extendingviorwardly -towardsaidimpact bar and terminating in a marginaledge spaced slightlyrearwardly therefrom whereby the scoop is concealed from view.

'7. In a vehiclevtront end construction having transversely spaced ironttenders and a cooling radiator therebetween, a plurality oi vertically-.spaced bars disposed forwardly of said radiator 1 theplane oi'said-bars and a bottom wall thereof 10 extending continuously rearwardiybeneath said radiator.

ELMER G. ZEEB.

